In the Wake of Bounty: A Voyage of Recovery by William H. White
Most people know the story of the mutiny: Fletcher Christian and his cohorts take over HMAV Bounty in the early morning hours of 28 April 1789, put the captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, into a boat with eighteen of his loyal officers and men, and sail the ship back to Tahiti to reunite with their island "wives" and friends. Christian and nine British sailors, along with a handful of islanders, then sail from Tahiti, as Christian feels they would be too vulnerable to discovery because of the island's wellknown location and its accessibility to ships sailing the Pacific. They leave sixteen men behind and sail the ship to an uncharted island called Pitcairn,
Cast Adrift-Mutiny on the Bounty, 28 April 1789
by Paul Garnett
where they set up a colony and burn the Bounty to avoid detection. All but one of the mutineers died there in the first ten years, either at the hand of each other or of natural causes. Those who had stayed behind in Tahiti lived happily, for a time, among their native friends. Then what happened?
O
n 16 March 1790, just short of one year afrer his debacle began, William Bligh, late of HMAV Bounty, presented himself at the Admiralry in Portsmouth , England, and shocked the hierarchy of the Royal Navy with his tale of a heinous mutiny. The yo ung lieutenant had voyaged over three thousand miles
with only rudimentary navigational tools and little food and water in a dangerously overcrowded open boat, landing in Coupang on the island of Timor (Indonesia) afrer forry-eighr days. He then arranged transport back to England, by way of Cape Town, aboard Durch East India merchant ships. Bligh was commended for his brav-
Men Against the Sea-The Bounty's Launch Struggles for Survival on her Voyage to Timor, May, 1789 by Paul Garnett
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ery, resourcefulness, and determination. The Lords of the Admiralry also granted his request for a court-martial to clear his name, vindicate himself, and restore his honor. Of course, news of this affair spread quickly and the Admiralry properly decided to send out a fast and well-armed ship to recover Bounty as well as the mutineers. It wo uld never do, they reasoned, to ler a successful mutiny stand-it would be bad for morale, as well as national prestige, and possibly could trigger a spate of similar mutinies. The Bounty mutineers were officially dubbed "pirates." HMS Pandora, commanded by Post Captain Edward Edwards, was brought out of ordinary ("mothballs" in today's parlance), fitted our ar Chatham Dockyards, and sailed to Portsmouth for stores and crew. She was armed with twenry 6-pounder carriage guns, four 18-pounder carronades, and twelve 1/2-pounder swivel guns. Also fitting our in Portsmouth was a mighry fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Howe, preparing to go to war against Spain over a bitter dispute centering on rhe ownership of Nootka Sound on the northwest coast of America. Without question , Howe's fleet had prioriry in receiving
SEA HISTORY 121 , WINTER 2007-08